The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Ideas for swap to hard fuel lines needed!

Just about fed up with constant problems with fuel hose leaks etc. New fuel hose to carbs installed just a couple months ago now loose and leaking. Appears that this hose being in contact with gas for even a short time begins to shrink.

I'm ready to remove every piece of fuel hose and need input on nice looking hard line. Would like something nicer looking than plain steel lines and brass connection. Any thoughts or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Use stainless & polish it up nice? Brian

Jim,

Do the stainless braided lines and "Earls" type fittings fall into the 'don't want them' category? They are neoprene inside (or Teflon), so they would be considered 'hose' as opposed to hard lines. I have seen proper flexible fuel line last for eons.

Stuart

OK, I like the stainless lines, but where to shop for this, catalogs?

I like the Earl's flex stuff but like the old timie look of hard line.
Thanks guys

If you've made up your mind that is good and move that direction with the line of your choice...but,

I am curious why you keep getting leaks. Make sure you are getting the good clamps. I picked up a bag in the "sale troph" once and they arn't worth a darn. Good clamps with standard fuel hose shouldn't leak for a long time. I tighten with a very small ratchet and socket rather than screw driver. Hose should peek thru the clamp holes, but just so, not much.

I'm used to working on older Camaros with heftier cams. Those fuel lines hold up, vibrating around for quite a long time before developing leaks.

try www.inlinetube.com

You can get stainless tubing and compression (Yor-Lok) fittings from McMaster-Carr at www.mcmastercarr.com. Not cheap but looks nice. I am in the process of finishing my 261 rebuild with dual Holly/Webers, Fentons and Offy and am using all SST for the fuel, vac and heat plate lines. I have some pics on here under the engine rebuild album.

http://community.webshots.com/user/geezer

Nice pics geezer:
Can you bend and flare stainless with standard hardware-store tools or do you need something special? Are you using compression or flare fittings? Thanks

Thanks for all suggestions, Geezer, super job.
Jim

I replaced my fuel lines with stainless from the carb to the gas tank. Cost around $70.00 for my '55 first series 3100 truck. the lines come pre-bent from the Truck Shop in Orange, Ca. 800-243-8947. prices vary by year.

Tim '55 Bolt
San Pedro, CA

Jim
I had a car fire on my 356 and had v-good quality german fuel lines.
the newer gas ate thru these lines. i ended up using fuel injected hose, avail @ your nearest flaps.
i also have added a compression fitting (soldered to) my new fuel lines on my 51 - 3104. this allows a tighter fit and no slipage of hoses & i also use a small hose clamp.

Waldo;
The fittings are compression but a double ring style. Once the pipe is seated in the fitting, a rear and a front ring seal the pipe in. I used 3/8" and 5/16" lines on my engine. I bought a bender from Summit Racing and it broke in half after about five bends on the SST. Then I bought an Imperial Eastman bender from an aircraft parts supplier in Georgia. What a difference! Made all my bends without a problem. Was well worth the small additional price. Think it was a model 470 or something like that. Bends 1/4, 5/16 and 3/8" tubing. Get a Sharpie felt pen and mark your bends for each radius length and also make sure you make a small line in the side of the pipe where you want the bend to go. When you position it in the bender, it makes life a whole lot easier. Good luck!

Geezer; thanks for the info.

I found McMaster Carr to be the cheapest source for 3/8" stainless line. I bought a roll of it and some backup sleeves and tube nuts for 37 degree flare. I will use it for all the fuel lines on my truck, about 8 total. I bought some Aeroquip -8 braided stainless hose assembly's with the Teflon inside to allow for some flex between my engine and frame.
I should have pictures in a few weeks.
Grigg

Just some input from an ole marine engineer. We loved 316 SS tubing and Swagelok fittings. SwageLok is a compression type fitting - much easier to use that 37 degree flares. Also, a proper flaring tool for stainless can be quie expensive. The Imperial Eastman benders are nice as are the cutters. These benders are lever type and require some time to master. The coil type copper tubing benders won't really work with the stainless. Remember that your ordinary copper tubing cutter will not cut stainless either, unless you replace the cutter wheel. If at all possible buy your tubing in straight lengths rather than coiled as the final job will be more professional looking.

To add to the last post.
Swagelok fittings are great and easy to use. 37 degree flared stuff is about 1/2 the price, but you gain the aggravation of flaring.

I have found the best 37 degree flaring tool for stainless is made by Ridgid and has an offset cone. They can be bought on line new for less than $100, like this one http://cgi.ebay.com/Ridgid-Flaring-...303QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

As for benders, there are 5 good ones, all essentially the same design, Swagelok, Ridgid, Imperial, new Parker, and the old Parker with the forged handle.
I have used 4 of the 5 and like the Swagelok best. It is about 3 or 4 times the price of the next three, and probably not worth it for the normal person.
The next three are almost as good, nothing to complain about, the Ridgid is my choice of the next three.
The old forged Parker is very nice and my choice for small lines like 3/16 and 1/4. The parker benders I have are old, I have not seen that style for sale new. The new parker benders for sale appear to be about the same as Ridgid and Imperial.

I think that with careful hand straighting a line made from a coil can look just as good as one made from straight, although harder to do and look good.

In the construction industry.. we uncoil the tubing and put a kink or bend in each end... then tie one end to a beam or something stationary... then we hook a come-a-long to something else stationary and stretch the tubing straight ... cut the ends and you have a straight length of tubing

I actually really dig bending and flaring hard lines...most people I know HATE it.
This is one of those times when high quality tools make ALL the difference. While the tool I'm about to recommend is Snap-on, it's actually very affordable. They have a tubing flare kit, with cut-off wheel, for just under $135. When I bought the kit $15 years ago, it was $100. It has a high-quality tubing cutter that is worth its weight in gold, and there are instructions on the inside of the lid that, if followed, will get you a perfect flare every time.

To this basic kit, add a cheap set of "needle files." I got a set of cheap ones out of a 99-cent bin at the gas station or something. You want one small flat-file to dress the edges, and one small needle file to de-burr the inside of the tubing. Nothing aggressive, just enough to clean up the edge after using the cut-off wheel.

Actually bending the lines is another place where high-quality makes a big difference. I've used them all, and the best tubing benders are made by Rigid. They have long handles for good leverage, and they make a nice, tight bend up to 180-degrees. Really looks professional when you're done. I have only one size though...these benders are $65 new, and they're for specific sizes of line. You'll need 1/4 and 3/8-inch for your resto, up to 1/2 for hot rod fuel lines.
In place of tha good Rigid benders, Snap On carries an economy "blue point" 3-size bender that I've had forever. It'll do a 90-degree bend. The radius isn't real tight either, but like I said, I've had mine for years and it gets the job done. And other than the Rigid, it's the only one I will use...and I've tried a ton of different kinds. I've also tried different makes of the 3-in-1 kind, and the quality of them is bad. They'll break while bending the line. The Snap-on/Blue Point is the one to have.

Finally, flare-nut wrenches. Craftsman sells two sets: a 4-wrench set, and a 5-wrench "Professional" fully polished set. Again, I have both, because some times you have to have a wrench on both sides of a joint. I think the Pro set was $35, and the standard was $20 a few years ago.

You will NOT need any kind of pipe thread tape, teflon tape or anything else; flare fittings seal by seating the flared tubing end on a brass nipple inside the fitting. The flare and the nipple are held together by the screw threads; those threads are only for clamping, they do NOT seal. Any leaks will go between the fitting and the tubing, not between threads on fittings. If you have a leak, back off the fitting, then snug it up/back it off/snug it up/etc. a few times. It'll re-seat the flare on the nipple.

You could end up spending about $200 in tools for this job, but I PROMISE that with these tools, you'll actually enjoy the job of bending and fitting hard lines. They really do make all the difference.

Brad

There's nothing like the looks of well plumbed solid lines. I say go for it.

tip:
buy 1/4'' i.d. expanding springs from (a surplus store) or ?? and expand them to about as far as you can. slip them over the newley bent brake lines.
http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/?action=view&current=579990-R1-012-4A.jpg

http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/?action=view&current=579990-R1-024-10A.jpg

http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/?action=view&current=579990-R1-036-16A.jpg

I had a '65 3/4 ton a few years back that I dropped a Holley Pro-Jection sytem on. Since it required high pressures and a return line I opted for hard lines.
Being in the aviation industry I could cheat & had access to all the neat tools & equipment to do things right. However, I can tell you that going to a local race shop will yield the same results. most good shops have the lines on hand, & if they cant get the flared fittings done any local hydraulic shop or a aircraft maint shop at a nearby airport can help you out as well.
You can get a nice finish from aluminum lines & fittings without the expense & fun of handling stainless lines. I did opt for stainless due to the pressures I was using, but for a standard gravity feed & 5-PSI pressure, aluminum will do the job.

At any rate, getting your truck to a shop that makes lines will make life easier by far. they can bend the lines to fit then & there, and you can take it home to assemble at your leisure. Worth a shot anyway